Physical structure of a true maximum, mastery of all three main strokes of boxing. Heavy left jab, which is sufficient power in both hands. He moves well in the ring, agility, and has good timing. Highlighted the fragility of jaw suffered two knockout (both the result of a single shot) against Oliver McCall and Hasim Rahman. Doubts also held its psychological. He beat Tyson now in a permanent decline, but has dominated all rivals at the height of their psychological and physical conditions. He was king in a time when the category was lacking in true talent. (D.tor.)
It happened very slowly. So I got to thinking, reflecting, while the ring of Memphis, Mike Tyson inspired me with feelings related to piety and pity. It was sad to see end up like the man who for sixteen years he has written the history of boxing. Lennox Lewis has not only put knock. He dominated, humiliated.
The key to reading technique is quite simple. Sixteen more inches down, seven pounds lighter, "Iron" Mike had no choice. He had to shorten the distance and long download series. He has not been possible. It was empty inside, he had shot the shots, lacked speed, led one punch at a time. He was a former boxer. It seemed an old glory as opposed to a hope that young people played the match of life.
But Lennox was to be the oldest man in the ring (36 him, the other 35). But Tyson's life has been too intense for the calculation of its age may proceed according to the usual measure. A childhood of poverty, then glory and success, prison, still happened, even jail. And at the end of the game, in the ring to fight. Only and only for money. A bad wound in his right eye from the third round, a left eye from the fifth. Tyson's face was a mask of blood was devastated by the great Lewis' left jab, his right hook. The sample has not prevailed. But there was neither respect nor judicious waiting in her attitude. A Lewis lacks the flash of genius to become a myth. Does not give strong emotions. You stand there looking at him, to admire his boxing clean and efficient, the good technique, the weight of the fist. But he can not to make you squirm, does not have the killer instinct: what allows you to close the match at the first opportunity and bring the people on your side.
Tyson had that instinct. Now his anger is a memory. The referee, Eddie Cotton, felt pity and wanted to help him. Clearly on two occasions (the official warning imposed on Lewis in the fourth round, the count stood at Tyson in the eighth, before ko), in a more discreet for the entire match. But the reality was that this time no one could help Mike Tyson.
The right hook that ended the challenge was terrifying. He hit the challenger on the left side of the jaw, chin height. Tyson and collapsed to the ground. Down, bleeding and powerless. He brought his right hand over his eyes in a gesture that reminded me of the provocative Jack Johnson on the day when he lost the championship against Jesse Willard.
That Tyson was, however, the image of a defeat, without hope of redemption. What I saw in the ring of Memphis was a sad departure from the scene. A dramatic event. Another match could turn the drama into a tragedy. Tyson And I can not even ask the ultimate act of courage, the withdrawal.
Violet Lewis born and spent his youth in Boston Bay, Port Antonio. Jamaica. Aunt Gee helps a child who has a stand of fruit and vegetables at the market. Every now and then looks up and sees the sea from his boat off Errol Flynn. They are the only moments in which her company is not just sadness.
Aunt leave Jamaica and flew to London. Violet followed her, then realizes it's time to make a living on her own. Turns from a rented room to another, all in the same neighborhood, close to all West Ham United Football Club The team for which her two sons will be cheering.
The eldest son is named Stephen, and Dennis was born from a relationship with Rupert Davies: swimming instructor before becoming a masseur. It will cure even the muscles of Frank Bruno. The father of the second and Carlton Brooks, a worker at Ford. It is also the man who confessed to Violet that they are already married, but he did so only when she told him to wait for a child.
For a long time the girl was assaulted by a doubt. He works as a nurse auxiliary, money is short and there is already a mouth to feed. Her friends try to convince him to abort. We think, blizzard and eventually decides that the child be born.
a Caesarean to give birth Lennox Claudius. The first name suggested it to him directly that the doctor has given birth, she chooses the second that has a passion for ancient Rome.
Lennox and Violet go on as best they could for a while, then her mother moved to Canada. He has to find a job that increases income, which may give a better future for the boy. For five years living away: her in Canada, he in London. Then, in 1977, Lennox joins her in Kitchener, Ontario. And it is here, in Canada, which begins the great adventure of boxing Lennox Lewis.
In boxing all called by the nickname of Oliver McCall "Atomic Bull". Many think it has been given the power of his blows, the reality is that the father has nicknamed him long ago. Little Oliver was awkward, stumbling all the time and threw down everything that was home. A real desperation, a true atomic bull, a constant danger for furniture and furnishings.
A Right McCall brought down to the mat Lewis in 1994, took away the title, the American giant has made my day and her manager-organizer: the hopping Don King.
Three years later the two find themselves in front. Meanwhile, Oliver has lost the world championship against Frank Bruno, who lost to Mike Tyson, who was dethroned. The crown is vacant. McCall does not reach the challenge under the best conditions. You stumbled into drugs, was detoxified in a specialized center. He was arrested more than once, to have beaten the last eight policemen before they were able to immobilize him in the lobby of a hotel in Nashville.
The match goes ahead without twists for two rounds, then turns into a drama. McCall refuses to fight, walk to the ring, hands down, without warning. Lewis did not hit him for a full recovery. The clumsy Toro Atomic corner is weeping, sobbing in the arms of George Benton, his teacher. Then again the center of the ring for another round. But he has tears in his eyes, pleading eyes and hands down. Lennox puts knockout after 55 seconds of the fifth shot. Ends up one of the strangest world heavyweight championships. Unsolved mystery. There is no drug in McCall, so say the anti-doping tests. Maybe there is, however, the nervous depression and the depletion of a boxer instead of a ring that he would have been better on the couch of a psychiatrist.
The first time you meet it in 1984. Lennox Lewis is the host for a week of Cus D'Amato in Catskill (New York). 18 years old. His friendship with Tyson arises. They gymnastics together, are companions in the morning jog. Speak. Much.
Lewis confides her secrets. He tells him about the dispute with Ben Johnson, the sprinter capable of memorable feats. Himself the son of two nations. If you will notice in Seoul. Canada when he won the gold in the 100 with the new world record, then quickly return to Jamaica as soon as it turned out positive for doping.
While they are together in the pool, Lennox discovers that Ben has lost his identification card. Try to bring it back, but can not find it. When the sprinter finally realizes it, think it was the boxer in rubarglielo maybe to make him a joke. And so it begins to cause it, wants to challenge him in the ring. A Lewis just a slap on the chest to let him know that is wrong twice. Skim the brawl. This time Ben Johnson is saved. Four years later not be able to escape.
Mike Lennox and therefore are great friends. Until you climb into the ring for a sparring session. Tyson in the ring has no friends, and swoops against anyone in the eye has the rage of killers to hunt for prey. For two rounds is likely to kill him, then Lewis began to box in the manner of Ali. Get out of legs and his left jab keeps away the beast.
"Come here, you coward, this is not a boxing ballet. "
few years later, Iron Mike will understand that his old friend is well acquainted with the craft of boxing.
Boxing, Lennox discovers it by chance. Together with his friend, Andrew Powis, finds himself involved in a brawl in a disco. Instead of beating each other in the room, the two groups have been meeting in the gym which is just behind the police station in Kitchener, the Waterloo Regional Police Association's Boxing Gym. At present, however, are only Lennox and Andrew. Arnie Boehm are: a teacher who understands immediately what has happened to the fortune in his hands. For ten years he will be the trainer of Lennox Lewis.
the Games in Los Angeles boy is fighting for Canada and is eliminated in the second round by Tyrell Biggs, who in the final beat Francesco Damiani and will win the gold in supermassimi. Mike Jacobs, who guided the career of Gerry Cooney: the loser's highest-paid in the history of boxing, Lewis gives $ 500,000 to the United States. Offer declined.
supermaximum the Olympics in Seoul who is from Kitchener arrives in the final. Riddick Bowe did before. It is a giant American, born and raised in Brownsville: the same quarter of Mike Tyson. Bowe talks too much. I remember very well, I met him the first time Falcinelli Basil's Pizzeria in New York. A pat on the shoulder, a laugh and a lot of words. He told me how he won the Olympic gold, how would become world champion of professional people, as it did a lot of money. Weather guess, all but one.
Lennox Lewis hits the right in the middle of the jaw of Bowe and the referee declares Gustav Baumgardtner kot. Fifty-six years after the Olympic title back to Canada. The last to have won was Horace "Lefty" Gwynne, bantamweight. One that four years had worn the gloves for the first time, with the physique of a jockey, one who as a child had performed together with the brother by the British troops in Wales. At age 19 he became champion in the Games in Los Angeles '32. But the triumph was not even able to change his life. In return, some applause, a gold watch and a lot of promises. Accepted a position to get by security guard in the Ford plant.
Lewis is not even an avalanche of money right after the Olympic gold. Yet it has conquered the great, the opponents were left standing for a paltry total of 10'16 ", with poor Ulli Kaden, who won the World Cup, sent in 34 ko." The fact is that Adrian Teodorescu, the coach who brought him to Seoul, has narrow specific agreements with the clan that supported the long campaign approach that led Lennox to the Games. Hurst & Mallet Sports Inc. has put a contract: $ 25,000 bonus and 65% of the awards. End of negotiations. If the guy will refuse to sign will have to pay debts for $ 170,000 (the money invested in the company) and a fine of $ 100,000 more.
Olympic champion relies on a lawyer, John Honewer. Through the mediation of a photographer, Lawrence Lustring the Daily Star, "manages to get in touch with Frank Maloney and Levitt Group. This time the offer is substantial: $ 245,000, a house in Bexley Heath in Kent, a Mercedes, a gold watch, $ 800 per week for expenses, 70% of scholarships for five years, $ 25,000 a year for Honewer, life insurance and accident insurance for one million dollars, the balance of debts accumulated in Canada.
agreement reached. Lennox Lewis back in England. Canada, accompanied him in his amateur career, the country where he was born to be his home for professional success.
There is a challenge with strokes of great lawyers, people with parcels billionaire, to win the chance to organize the second World Unified (valid for titles WBC, WBA, IBF) between Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis. The match was announced for September in Las Vegas. Don King has assured of holding the contracts, but no one has yet seen. Even HBO, the television that would make possible the meeting. The fact is that the first fight between the two has been, from a financial standpoint, a true triumph.
The Madison Square Garden in New York has paid 8.3 million dollars for it at the box office and grossed $ 11 million (the spectators were 21,184). The KO TV, pay-per-view which belongs to HBO, the event sold at a price of 49.95 dollars a link. They bought 1.2 million people, for a total of $ 52 million. In other words, only one collection and sale on television, came in cash $ 63 million, barely half of whom are left to pay the purses of two boxers. Now the sum to be given to Holyfield and Lewis remains the same (but different is the distribution: this time will share $ 30 million in equal parts, 15 each) will increase the choices of income.
With so much money around, it is clear that there are many people interested in sharing the "pie". Dino Duva's Main Event (the company that is headquartered in Totowa, New Jersey and manages the affairs of Holyfield) and Panos Eliades of Panix Promotion (the London-based company that governs the career of Lewis) has already announced that Don King did not want to leave the role of protagonist in this story. Among the potential organizers of the challenge comes in its own right of the HBO " is time to change the rules of the game - says Lou Di Bella, vice president of the American sports network - need of new managers of the event. Boxing has to have his charts, universal, outside the institutions that govern it. Journalists and other influential people who daily live boxing must free ourselves from the bondage of the band of the alphabet (as defined in the United States is the mass of bodies world, "NDA"). "
About the Alphabet Group, the boxing world has recently seen the arrival of new organizations that have been added to the existing WBC, WBA, IBF, WBO, WBU. So here come the IBO (International Boxing Organization), WBF (World Boxing Federation), IBA (International Boxing Association: Butter Bean, a bald fat guy, is his champion supermassimi), NBA (National Boxing Association). And others are ready to come out. Nonsense. How to give wrong to Lou Di Bella and HBO?
With so much money on the plate, the only thing certain is that Holyfield-Lewis II will. September or October the periods indicated, the Las Vegas headquarters, the 50 billion of stock to be divided by two. Who will sign it up? Surely HBO, probably Don King, of course the Main Event and Panos Eliades. Fans of Lewis WBA and IBF titles they want those who have been (unfairly) in the hands of Holyfield. Supporters say that the next American champion will surely be another story.
The result of the first match he had insulted the very place where the world had done. Only two among the more than twenty thousand people who packed Madison Square Garden had not seen Lennox Lewis to win the title. Eugenia Williams, who was awarded the victory (115-113) to Holyfield and Britain's Larry O'Connell who had seen the same (115-115). Emmanuel Steward, who was on the corner of Lewis, said: "If Evander Holyfield had been a sparring in our training camp, we would not have used a long time. It's too slow and too old. " 13 March 1999 that the shame had flooded the world of boxing. The match was one-sided, dominated for at least ten of the twelve shots from Lennox, the rematch was almost mandatory.
Eight months later there he was again in the ring. The venue is the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. This time Lewis is less brilliant than it was the first occasion, but he won quite clearly. Despite the intermittent use of the jab, the imperfect physical condition in shape and opacity. Unanimous decision, the benefit from two to six points. It is the world standard for WBC and WBA. The International Boxing Federation has pulled back one hour from the meeting. The organizers had not paid the fee for the title. The band of the alphabet makes no exceptions.
write this book in the summer of 2003 and Lennox Lewis is still the heavyweight champion of the world. There are at least three other around (Roy Jones for the WBA, WBO for Corrie Sanders, Chris Byrd for the IBF), but this giant British that people recognize as the champion of boxing. A 38-year-old still in the saddle.
He never had it's own light. In two games with Holyfield, but especially the one with Mike Tyson, has always been the name of the opponent and the biggest on the poster in the hearts of fans. Lennox Lewis is a good guy and this seems to be incompatible with the role it plays. In each of the big heavyweights that I have told in this book was a bit of madness, an oddity, a mania. In him no.
soul fans, the universal popularity, the conquer only in two ways. Or with the size of personality. Ali And here was a unique phenomenon. Or with the devastating power of your performance. We talk, for example, Rocky Marciano. If for a period of your life you are lucky enough to have both, you're Mike Tyson. If the sample is of the greatest Lennox Lewis, it means that something is wrong with the old, fascinating art of boxing.
DARIO TORROMEO, Twelve giant
LENNOX LEWIS Claudius, said Lennox Lewis, born in West Ham (London, England), September 2, 1965.
Height: 1.94
Weight: fought between 102 and 116 pounds
pro debut ': June 27, 1989
Last match: active
Matches: 44
Wins by KO: 32
points Wins: 9
Losses for ko: 2
Peers: 1
World Champion from May 8 1993-24 September 1994; from 7 February 1997 to April 22, 2001. It is world champion since November 17 2001.
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